Until now, not many apprentices in craft trades have done work experience abroad. But trainee dental technician Thomas König completed a placement in the Spanish city of Malaga and gives a glowing report. His boss Dörte Thie would like more apprentices to help export the German training system to the rest of the world.
Work first, then to the beach to enjoy the Spanish sunshine – that's exactly what Thomas König did. The aspiring dental technician, who is 19, spent one month in a lab in the Spanish city of Malaga.
"I had a great time", says König, adding it was the first time in his life he had been away from home for so long and that "the experience made me more independent." He was not afraid of being alone in an unfamiliar city and shared a flat in Malaga with two budding pastry chefs. König had an unusual way of overcoming the language barrier at work. The son of Kazakh parents, he was raised bilingual, speaking both German and Russian at home. Two of his colleagues in the Spanish dental lab also came from Kazakhstan. "We chatted in Russian", he says. And the German trainee communicated with his Spanish boss in English. But he concedes that he did still pick up a few scraps of Spanish.
In actual fact, a stay abroad is about more than learning another language or just having an extended summer. "It is about getting a new perspective on the work", says Dörte Thie. The master dental technician from Blankenfelde is Thomas König's trainer and a member of the board of the Chamber of Crafts and Trades in the German city of Potsdam. She is responsible for vocational education and training there and very familiar with the Erasmus+ programme, which gives apprentices from Germany the chance to train in another European Union (EU) country for a while. "All those who have taken part have come back more mature", says Thie.
And that is true whether they were upholsterers fitting out the Louvre in Paris or brewers showing Danes the intricacies of German brewing. "It's good to look beyond one's own horizons", says Dörte Thie. Education is about exchanging information and ideas – not only about specific subjects, but as people too. Thanks to the Erasmus programme, an apple pie recipe made its way from a Potsdam bakery all the way to Spain, whilst at the same time, you can now buy bread baked to a Spanish recipe in Potsdam.
German trainees have a good reputation all over Europe. The dual training system, where a theoretical component is taught at a vocational school and practice is gained by training in-house, is almost unique throughout Europe. The German title "master craftsman" is recognised as a mark of quality even abroad. "People do look at the training system in Germany with some envy", says Dörte Thie. "We want to export a little of that to other countries." She is convinced that all sides would benefit if this were to happen: young people would receive well-balanced training covering both theory and practice, and companies would have better opportunities for comparison. Until now, any training undertaken abroad was heavily dependent on whatever information the particular in-house trainers decided to impart to their young charges.
"My Spanish boss was also sceptical to begin with", says Thomas König. But he soon realised that the second-year apprentice had some good skills. "As time went by he was totally won over and didn't want to see me go", says the 19 year old, who would also have been very happy to stay longer in Spain.